For 90 years, the Institute of Contemporary Art has championed the artists and ideas shaping contemporary culture. This special anniversary exhibition revisits nine exhibitions and initiatives from the ICA’s extraordinary history, tracing the museum’s evolution alongside the ever-changing landscape of contemporary art. 

One of the oldest museums dedicated to contemporary art in the United States, the ICA was founded in 1936 as the Boston Museum of Modern Art, a sister institution to New York’s MoMA.  In response to a postwar period marked by “world chaos and social unrest,” the museum recognized a growing need to engage with the art of the present.1 In 1948, it adopted a new name to signal its commitment to fostering contemporary artistic expression: the Institute of Contemporary Art. Over nine decades and across thirteen different locations, the ICA has remained consistently dedicated to artistic innovation. Collaboratively organized by the ICA’s curatorial team in celebration of the museum’s 90th anniversary, the exhibition looks back as a means of moving forward, revisiting past projects to imagine the ICA’s vibrant future.  

CURRENTS (1983-1995) was a flexible exhibition program designed for audiences to engage with the artistic currents of the moment and develop their own critical perspectives. This series featured artists whose work shed light on contemporary critical issues.

Some of the artists presented through this innovative program include Edgar Heap of Birds, Jenny Holzer, Anish Kapoor, Yoko Ono, Martha Rosler, and many more. 90 YEARS will bring some of these artists' work back to the museum alongside new "currents" from emerging artists Hanna Hur, Joanna Keane Lopez, and Lee Mary Manning, whose practices engage with the themes explored in the original CURRENTS presentations.